Florida medical marijuana

FORT LAUDERDALE – Officials in two South Florida counties are moving forward with fines for misdemeanor marijuana possession, rather than arrests and criminal charges.

County commissioners in Broward and Palm Beach counties both gave preliminary approval today for ordinances that would allow law enforcement officers to issue civil citations instead of filing criminal charges against people carrying 20 grams or less of marijuana. Florida state law makes misdemeanor marijuana possession punishable by up to 1 year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A public hearing has been set for Oct. 20 in Palm Beach County and Nov. 10 in Broward County.

Miami-Dade County and the city of West Palm Beach have approved similar ordinances.

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE — Two key lawmakers Wednesday proposed allowing terminally ill patients to obtain medical marijuana to help grapple with pain, the latest twist in a nearly two-year debate about how to address the high-profile — and emotionally charged — issue.

Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, held a news conference to announce the proposal, which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session. It comes as state health officials continue trying to carry out a 2014 law allowing limited types of cannabis and as a potential ballot fight looms next year over broader legalization.

Bradley said lawmakers can’t “put our head in the sand” on the medical-marijuana issue, with polls showing that a majority of voters favor making cannabis available to patients.

“The people in our communities who care about cannabis reform, who want to be able to die without being jacked up with opiates and without being in excruciating pain are visiting their legislators,” Gaetz said. “They are making phone calls. They’re sending emails, and it’s working.”

The proposal (HB 307) piggybacks on a law passed earlier this year that allows terminally ill patients to gain access to experimental drugs that have not been approved for general use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. That law, dubbed the “Right to Try Act,” is limited to patients who have terminal conditions and requires that they get approvals from two physicians.Those same conditions would apply to the medical-marijuana bill proposed by Bradley and Gaetz.Also, the bill would not allow patients to receive medical marijuana that can be smoked. Cannabis also can be used in other ways, such as in oils. Limiting the form could help make the bill more politically palatable as, for example, the Florida Sheriffs Association said last year it objected to any medical marijuana that could be smoked.Bradley and Gaetz helped spearhead an effort in 2014 to pass a law that allows some patients, such as children with severe forms of epilepsy, to obtain limited types of cannabis that purportedly do not get users high.

But those products, which are low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD, still are not on the market, as the Florida Department of Health ran into legal challenges over regulations and as a licensing process continues for nurseries.

Unlike the 2014 law, the new bill would not be limited to non-euphoric medical marijuana. But it would use the same regulatory structure designed to carry out the 2014 law, including relying on nurseries in five regions of the state that will be awarded licenses to grow, process and dispense cannabis.

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of voters back at least the concept of allowing medical marijuana. A University of South Florida survey released this week put support at 55 percent.”This is an issue that people care about,” Bradley said. “This is an issue that we need to talk about. We’ve been elected to do the people’s business, and I take it very seriously when this is something that is on people’s minds. We need to address it.”

The news of a possible breakthrough in allowing full-strength marijuana for terminal patients came a day after the Department of Health faced criticism for the slow pace at which it is carrying out the Compassionate Care Act of 2014, which enables use of non-euphoric cannabis extracts for patients dying of cancer and for patients diagnosed with epilepsy or severe muscle spasms.

A day after facing criticism for the pace of carrying out a 2014 medical-marijuana law, the Florida Department of Health said Wednesday it expects to issue key licenses to five nurseries this fall.

Full-strength marijuana is still completely illegal in Florida, even though it is being used in state-sanctioned medical marijuana programs in 23 states plus the District of Columbia.

United For Care says it plans to be back on the ballot in November 2016 with a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing medical use of full-strength marijuana for a much wider range of medical conditions. And two other groups are getting petition signatures on porposals to legalize marijuana for adult use in Florida. The two proposals are called Regulate Florida and Floridians for Freedom.

“This is a job for legislators to do, not the blunt instrument of a constitutional amendment,” Bradley said Wednesday. “But we kind of lose that argument, and rightfully so, if we just say that but then don’t do anything about it and not address legitimate concerns that are raised to us by our constituents.”

Bradley and Gaetz were lead sponsors of the 2014 law, which became widely known as the “Charlotte’s Web” bill because of a type of medical marijuana that it allowed.

In all, the department’s panel is considering 28 applications for the coveted licenses.

By the end of the day Monday, the state had verified 73,713 petitions — about 5,400 more than needed to qualify for review by the court.

The verified signatures come after United for Care, the organization pushing for a medical marijuana amendment, submitted more than 100,000 signatures for review on July 22.

It now falls to the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the proposed amendment touches on just one subject and is constitutional. The court approved a similar amendment for the 2014 election. That amendment made it to the ballot, but garnered just 57.6 percent of the vote when 60 percent was required to pass.

Secretary of State Ken Detzner will now send the proposed amendment to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has 30 days to review it before sending it on to the court. In 2014, Bondi took the full 30 days.

The new amendment has a few changes but “largely changes that were made based on the Florida Supreme Court review of the last amendment,” said Ben Pollara, the campaign manager for United for Care. “So, we were confident of our original language and are even more confident going in the second time.”

Two voter initiatives to legalize marijuana in Florida have been approved by the state’s Division of Elections, clearing the way for their sponsors to attempt the Herculean task of gathering 683,149 verifiable voter signatures apiece.

A very straight-forward proposal backed by some of the state’s best-known cannabis activists, Parrish residents Bob and Cathy Jordan, would simply make marijuana legal.

“The amendment guarantees the right of persons over twenty-one years of age to possess, use and cultivate cannabis (commonly referred to as marijuana),” the ballot summary states.

The measure, “Right of Adults to Cannabis,” would reserve to the state the power to regulate the plant’s purchase and sale in the interest of health and safety.

“Yes, we are affiliated with it, and this is the one we will get behind,” Bob Jordan said.

While that measure is short and sweet, taking just a few sentences to convey, a separate proposal called “Regulate Florida” is highly detailed and takes up four pages.

Regulate Florida’s primary author is Tallahassee attorney Bill Wohlsifer. The proposed amendment “is very comprehensive. It doesn’t leave that much for the Legislature to do,” Wohlsifer said.

“Regulate Florida” would legalize adult growing, consumption and possession of cannabis but also would turn marijuana into a legal, regulated product in Florida, much like alcohol. It would be legal for adults 21 or older to own up to an ounce of marijuana, grow up to six plants within their own residence, or give away marijuana to someone else.

If approved, the measure would set a July 2017 deadline for Florida state government to begin licensing and regulating commercial grocers, processors and retailers.

The Florida Legislature is likely to weigh in on taxes and fees on any proposed constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana.

The obstacles

To be sure, to become a constitutional ballot initiative, either Regulate Florida or “Right of Adults to Cannabis” has major obstacles in front of it, just like those faced by the United for Care, which has resurrected its medical marijuana initiative and is aiming for November 2016 ballot boxes.

After gathering the first tenth of the required voter signatures (68,314 out of 683,149), the groups must turn the initiative over to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for review. She is likely to turn it over to the Florida Supreme Court, as occurred with last year’s proposed medical marijuana amendment. Assuming the court finds the ballot language acceptable, the Regulate Florida group will then go after the rest of the signatures required.

Once the issue is on the ballot, either legalization plan would likely need a multimillion-dollar war chest pay for TV ads promoting its cause.

The lineup for 2016 legalization initiatives is getting longer, and the pool of funding for such ventures is limited.

“We are going to have adult legalization in California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine,” said Kris Krane, co-founder and managing partner at 4Front Advisors, a cannabis consulting firm. “When looking at the landscape in 2016, my concern would be the movement is spreading itself very thin.”

“They’re going to need $10 million if they are going to do this right in Florida,” Krane said. “If they’re going to be successful in pulling something like this off, they are going to need to find donors who are in Florida and interested in doing this in their state.”

Some specifics

Where “Right of Adults to Cannabis” is open-ended as to the amount each household could grow, “Regulate Florida” is very specific and limiting in this regard.

Under “Regulate Florida,” adults would be allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants within their own primary residence, “provided that the growing takes place in an enclosed, locked space, is not conducted openly or publicly, and the cannabis so grown is not made available for sale.”

In a further limitation, the amendment would specify that three or fewer of the plants could be mature or flowering plants.

Chairing the Regulate Florida group is Michael Minardi, a Stuart-based defense attorney specializing in cannabis cases. He successfully defended the Jordans in 2013 after Bob Jordan was charged with growing marijuana on behalf of his wife, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Floridians for Freedom, the group the Jordans now back, is based in Melbourne, and is chaired by Jodi K. James.

Both of these two legalization efforts are in the process of getting their websites cranked up for public viewing: RegulateFlorida. com and FloridiansForFreedom.com.

Four states plus the District of Columbia have legalized adult use of marijuana, typically with the same kind of limits included in the Regulate Florida petition. Ohio voters will consider legalizing marijuana in November. Nevada’s voter initiative will appear on ballots in November 2016. The other states, such as California, are still raising money and fine-tuning their language.

United for Care, the Florida group that came close to creating a Florida constitutional amendment enabling medical marijuana in the November 2014 election cycle, is on its way to round two. But the group will still need 600,000 to 700,000 more signatures to insure a vote.

The group announced Wednesday that it has now sent 100,000 petitions to Supervisor of Elections offices – past what it expects to be needed to get enough validated for Supreme Court review. State law requires 68,317 thousand validated petitions for Supreme Court review and 683,179 validated petitions to get on the 2016 ballot.

“This is a massive head start over the previous campaign – which started late. If we can sustain this pace, we should ensure our place on the ballot before the holidays,” said Ben Pollara, Campaign Manager.

“This early accomplishment comes as a direct result of the dedicated volunteers we have and the generous donors large and small helping to fund our efforts,” said Pollara.

The Supervisor of Elections has thirty days to verify that a petition is valid. Following verification, the Supreme Court will then schedule a review. “We expect to have our review date by mid-August,” said Pollara.

Powered by over 13,000 volunteers, United for Care is a non-partisan campaign with an on-the-ground presence across the state including a campaign office in Miami and Tampa.

This year’s version of the amendment addresses loopholes that critics said would result in marijuana dispensaries on every street corner, doling out joints to minors and giving drug dealers a legal supply line, reports the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

It allows the state to ban felons who are serving as caregivers from buying marijuana for qualified patients. And it tightens the definition of a qualified patient. The 2014 version allowed doctors to prescribe marijuana for any condition for which they thought the benefits outweighed the risks. In the new version, a patient has to have one of a list of serious diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS or a disease of “the same kind or class.”

In Florida, the only two ways to create a new law are through the legislature or a constitutional amendment. In this case, the legislature has failed to even consider a comprehensive medical marijuana bill in committee. Amendments require a 60 percent yes vote. United for Care’s initial attempt in 2014 won 58 percent of the vote.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana programs that have been created through voter initiatives, including states that compete with Florida for winter visitors such as Arizona, Nevada, California and Hawaii.

SARASOTA COUNTY — Despite not bidding for one of the first licenses to produce medical marijuana in Florida, AltMed LLC says it will remain a player in the game.

AltMed decided against applying to become a state-approved dispenser of a non-euphoric cannabis because it offered a limited market for what would be a $3 million to $5 million investment, company co-chairman Michael Smullen said Friday.

“The business opportunity was not a very good one,” Smullen said. “There will be a real good opportunity in the future with the expansion of the uses.”

Smullen said it was a “tough decision” for the Sarasota County start-up, which was disappointed when Florida voters failed to approve medical marijuana last November. AltMed has raised capital, hired key personnel and opened a facility here to process and package cannabis products.

Dennis Cathcart is no fan of the full-blown medical marijuana movement in Florida, but he believes his Tropiflora nursery could successfully produce a certain type of cannabis for needy patients.

Six commercial nurseries, including the 40-year-old Tropiflora in southern Manatee County, are vying for state approval to cultivate and sell non-euphoric cannabis in Southwest Florida.

“When we first heard about it, we were pretty much opposed,” Cathcart said. “But then we discovered that the product is a derivative of the cannabis plant, not something that can be smoked or used to get high in any way. We feel like it’s a worthy thing.”

The businesses applied by Wednesday’s deadline to the Florida Department of Health to be tapped as the sole “dispensing organization” for the 11-county region that includes Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte.

SARASOTA COUNTY — In November – when Florida’s medical marijuana amendment came up two points short of the 60 percent approval that would give it the force of constitutional law – AltMed LLC was forced to confront an uncomfortable truth.

Bhang Corporation makes and markets cannabis-infused chocolates and is working on a deal to produce more traditional medical delivery systems, such as transdermal patches with AltMed LLC of Sarasota.Photo provided by Bhang Corporation.

With no backup plan, the Sarasota County-based startup had become somewhat of an orphan: a would-be marijuana provider in a state that may or may not have a full-fledged medical program by 2018.

“We came in and sat down and had a little pity party for three or four hours, because we had never really planned for that,” said Michael Smullen, co-chairman of the board at AltMed, which now occupies an artfully decorated former showroom for granite countertops and floors in eastern Sarasota County. (A large production area is still sub-leased for granite work, but the eventual plan is to use that space to process and package cannabis products.)

During the run-up to the Amendment 2 vote, and in anticipation of an even sooner shot at one of five state licenses to make and process a non-euphoric extract used to treat epilepsy, AltMed had been recruiting key personnel. Within the office, the company now employs a medical director, an accountant, a lawyer, an organic chemist and an expert at growing high-value marijuana while following all the rules and regulations evolved in the 23 states where it is legal.

AltMed executives will decide this month whether to submit an application to grow, process and sell the extract — an effort that would provide good experience, and might grandfather the Sarasota County company into a potential future where there is more broad-based legal production in the Sunshine State.

But is not a way to make money.

Following the amendment’s defeat, the question on that financial front became: “How can we do something that provides revenues before Florida passes a law, without all of us going to jail?” said CEO David P. Wright, Smullen’s fellow founder.

The answer has been to create a careful corporate structure and use it to invest in two states that already have solid, ongoing medical marijuana programs. Wright said there is a constant flow of deals like this for companies like AltMed with the capital to invest. The real issue was trying to choose quality projects that put the company in league with other players that share its emphasis on marijuana as medicine.

Smullen, who became senior vice president of sales and marketing at a high-flying Nasdaq-traded bio-pharmaceutical firm, felt firsthand the agony of raising a daughter who experienced epileptic seizures.

He became a convert to the value of marijuana as a potential balm when he watched CNN documentaries on the subject by Dr. Sanjay Gupta in late 2013. Marijuana also has been shown to alleviate the fatigue and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy, to reduce the tremors experienced by those with Parkinson’s disease. and to reduce pain — and possibly even the swelling — of arthritis.

Smullen had found an early ally in this vision to grow medical marijuana in Bill Petron, a friend and Ontario entrepreneur who owns a successful farm and construction equipment business.

To round out his team, Smullen turned to Wright, who had worked at the same biopharmaceutical firm and who also retired early to Sarasota.

With plenty of well-heeled friends, AltMed has found it relatively easy to raise more than $5 million from outside investors. The company plans to seek a like amount in the near future, Wright said.

“While these things are not cheap to do, they are going to have returns that are very, very rapid, and that is what we are looking for right now” Wright said. “We are looking to generate cash flow.”

Before the end of 2015, the cash should be flowing from a large indoor growing and processing plant in the small town of Coolidge, Arizona. With 60,000 square feet of growing space, the building will be one of the largest, if not the largest, in Arizona.

The operator, Agronomy Innovations, expects to begin moving plants into the building within a few weeks, and to be harvesting 100 pounds or more of usable cannabis leaves and buds per month by the end of the year.

AltMed will use its new status as a significant industry participant to make and market new lines of cannabis products, including edibles and a transdermal patch designed to deliver the active ingredients from marijuana into the blood stream through contact with the skin.

Meanwhile, discussions also are underway for a similar growing/processing venture in Colorado.

Because Florida has no marijuana program, being based in the state and working in others where cannabis is legal has its own built-in risks that must be carefully managed.

“For those willing to take a risk in the industry, the path will undoubtedly be encumbered with traps putting investors in imminent danger of running afoul with the law,” said David Welch, whose Los Angeles law firm specializes in business aspects of the medical marijuana industry. “Investors still have a misconception that marijuana is legal, when in reality it remains illegal under federal law. That said, an investor who can commit for a long term has the potential to reap significant returns when the law changes, while at the same time avoiding substantial legal implications.”

It is 113 degrees in the shade on a recent weekday in Coolidge, Arizona, as Ray Helbe — driving around in his car — explains how he made the transition from straitlaced NASA aerospace engineer to indoor marijuana specialist.

Like Smullen, a situation within Helbe’s own family changed the way he viewed the drug.

His wife, Danielle, became ill with breast cancer, which spread to her lymph nodes. Their son Nathan, 26, started making and providing her with a thick brown marijuana extract known as “Rick Simpson Oil,” which can be taken orally.

The medicine helped Danielle make it through both radiation and chemotherapy. While making absolutely no claim that marijuana is a cure, the family happily reports that Danielle is now cancer-free.

“She had no bad days when she was going through her treatment,” Helbe said. “It really opened my eyes.”

The father-and-son team got involved in helping others build three different marijuana-growing operations in Arizona, which has had a medical marijuana program in place since 2012.

Along with an old Marine Corps friend who now lives in Phoenix, the Helbes then decided to go into business themselves. Ray Helbe went all-in, cashing his 401(k) to convert a vacant 33,000-square foot building within the city limits of Coolidge into an ultra-modern, high-capacity marijuana operation with growing space on two levels.

While outsiders might consider Coolidge to be in the middle of nowhere, Ray Helbe notes that it is conveniently halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona’s two largest cities.

The Agronomy Innovations team expects to deliver its first crops before the end of the year. Because they are making concentrates, they can use more of the marijuana plant than if they were just selling the cured flower buds for smoking. Helbe figures he could eventually produce 1,000 pounds per month of usable plant material.

Cutting in AltMed for 15 percent ownership was a win-win. It will allow the Helbes’ company to ramp up faster and utilize the highest of high-technology gear.

“Everything can be checked on your smartphone,” Helbe said. “I can check relative humidity. I can add CO2 to a room.”

Once the Coolidge operation starts delivering plant material, the plan is for AltMed to process it and refine it into medicines, including the active ingredient in its transdermal patch.

Back at the former granite showroom in Sarasota County, Wright pulls three small product containers carrying the logo “Bhang” out from his desk drawer, carefully noting to his visitor as he does so that the containers are empty.

Bhang Corp.’s brand name already has become well known in medical marijuana circles for cannabis-infused chocolates, vaporizer pens and sprays. The company is actively producing and marketing products in six states, and will be operating in nine by the end of the year, Bhang CEO Scott Van Rixel says.

“Bhang has asked us to be their medicinal discovery arm,” Wright told the Herald-Tribune.

Van Rixel confirmed the arrangement, saying his company approached AltMed because of Wright’s and Smullen’s pharmaceutical product development experience.

“You get into the patches, pills, inhalers, nebulizers, tinctures,” Van Rixel said. “Things a doctor would see as more comfortable than saying, ‘Eat two cookies and call me in the morning.’”

AltMed hired an organic chemist to come up with what it feels is a more effective transdermal delivery system than those already on the market. Arizona medical marijuana patients will be the first to try them out.

For the Sarasota County company, the experience gained in Arizona and Colorado may bring benefits that can be translated back into the company’s home state as well.

It is very likely that the same group that promoted the medical marijuana amendment in 2014 will be back on the ballot in November 2016 with a very similar measure.

If they succeed, that would mean Florida, the third-most populated state in the nation, would become a multibillion-dollar market for cannabis, and particularly for easy-to-use products like AltMed’s patch.

“It’s a smart move for somebody who has eyes on going for a license of their own in a new state,” said industry consultant Kris Krane, managing partner of 4Front Advisors.

TALLAHASSEE — Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan has written a $150,000 check to jump-start an effort to get a medical-marijuana initiative back on the ballot in 2016.

United for Care — the political group behind the proposal — started hiring petition-gatherers to ensure the group does not get caught playing catch-up again.

Garnering more than 58 percent of the vote last November, a medical-marijuana initiative fell just short of the 60 percent approval required for constitutional changes. Morgan, who spent at least $5 million on the effort last year, says he is determined to give voters another stab at a revised version. Supporters hope heavier voter turnout for the presidential election will push the pot initiative above the 60 percent threshold.

United for Care campaign manager Ben Pollara said he thinks the group will need about $3 million to cover the costs of professional petition-gatherers and legal fees to get the initiative on the ballot. Pollara said he plans to have the paid workers fanned out statewide by July 1.

Pollara needs to turn in 683,149 valid petition signatures to the Department of State by Feb. 1 to get on the ballot. First, the group has to submit 10 percent of those petitions to the Florida Supreme Court to trigger a review of the revamped initiative, now entitled “Use of Medical Marijuana for Debilitating Conditions.”